Manziel firing passes in warmups

COLLEGE STATION – As I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door to cover Vanderbilt at Texas A&M this morning, my 4-year-old son tugged on my jacket and asked, “Can you make sure Johnny Manziel is OK?”

That pretty much summed up A&M fans’ requests across the board this week. So, for Li’l Will and thousands of others: Manziel is out on the field and throwing sharp passes in warmups this morning.

Manziel, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, hurt his shoulder late in the Aggies’ 45-41 loss to Auburn a week ago, although he tried to return to the game and lead A&M to a comeback victory (a desperation drive came up short). A&M coach Kevin Sumlin had described Manziel’s status as “hopeful” this week. The 5-2 Aggies and 4-3 Commodores meet for the first time starting 11:21 a.m. this morning.